English Entertainment
“We will be looking into more original productions that are local and relevant to Indian audiences” : Sony Pictures Television SVP, GM, Networks Asia Ricky Ow
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Sony Pictures Television is on a major expansion course in Asia. It has widened its portfolio with the launch of a new channel, ONE. AXN HD has also launched in several markets.
The key strategy is to up localisation in language, on-air presentation and local original production so as to make the channels more relevant. 
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Sony Pictures Television SVP, GM, Networks Asia Ricky Ow elaborates on the company‘s brand positioning, growth, challenges and expansion plans.
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How would you describe the performance of SPE Networks Asia over the past couple of years?
In addition, we have expanded our portfolio by entering the Asian GE content space with the launch of our new channel, One. In a nutshell it has been a good couple of years with strong growth and expansion. |
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What are the priorities and key strategies for it going forward? |
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To what extent was the company affected by the economic downturn?
While there was some loss in ad sales momentum, it was nothing too drastic. We have always had a strong culture of prudence and the downturn actually provided us a great opportunity to further build our brand and engage our audiences by revisiting some of the basics in how we connect with them. |
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Are things back to normal now or are some Asian markets still feeling the impact? |
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How has SPE Networks Asia grown the number of feeds over the past couple of years? |
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Could you talk about the growing importance of HD for SPE?
AXN is a channel brand that is very relevant to early technology adopters and we have already launched AXN HD in Korea and several Southeast Asian markets. We have plans to bring it to India as well. |
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When he was in India, Sir Howard Stringer mentioned the importance of 3D for Sony. What role will this technology play in your broadcast business in the coming two to three years? |
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The last time we spoke you had mentioned revenue leakage from piracy being a concern. Is the growing digitisation in India addressing this problem? |
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There are synergies that exist between the broadcast business and other business verticals of Sony in India and across Asia. Could you talk about how this area is being exploited? |
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We are seeing more players enter the English GEC space in India after a long time when there have been just three players. What impact will this have?
With greater competition and more choices, the overall English GE viewership can expand and everyone wins. |
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From a programming perspective is AXN‘s template going to stay the same or are you looking to innovate?
An example comes in the form of AXN‘s Minute to Win It for India, which serves to localise the entertainment experience on the channel and make the content more relevant for Indian audiences. |
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Other English channels have introduced subtitling. Is AXN also doing this? |
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With CBS having launched channels in India, how will this affect deals you do with them? Will new seasons still be available? |
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On the localisation front, how has the response been to Minute To Win It India‘?
We are glad that Indian viewers have readily come forward to offer their honest feedback on Minute to Win It, without our having to ask. This points to real excitement and following for the show and format. We will be taking some of the suggestions to make Minute to Win It even better next season. |
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What is next on the local front? |
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You devised a social media strategy to push this show. How effective is social media in communicating AXN‘s brand message? |
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Social media means that brands lose control to an extent in terms of how information filters down and is disseminated to the consumer. That makes some companies insecure. How does SPE Networks Asia view this medium?
If responses received are negative, then we know we have to improve. Vice versa, if feedback is positive and we can continue in the direction which we know is right. We are never afraid of negative reactions and welcome all feedback.
Only when viewers engage with our channel brand do we understand them better and social media has enabled us to do this like never before and we will continue using it. |
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How is AXN perceived as a brand by viewers and advertisers? Has the perception changed over the past few years?
However, the definitions of ‘Action‘ and ‘Adventure‘ have probably evolved over the years. As audiences have grown increasingly sophisticated and mature in their choice of content, ‘Action‘ and ‘Adventure‘ may no longer be the same hard-boiled, head-on action in AXN programmes of yesteryear.
Instead, we find viewers embracing values such as courage, determination and irreverence embodied by key characters of popular AXN shows such as the CSI franchise, NCIS: LA, Leverage and Justified. This is also true when you consider the great support and following for local heroes from across the region who embark on the race of their lives in AXN‘s original production, The Amazing Race Asia. |
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What work has been done in the new media area by SPE Networks Asia in other Asian markets like Taiwan and Korea and what have the learnings been?
For SPT Networks Asia, we operate the Animax Mobile 3G streaming service as well as online catch-up TV for selected channels and programmes in various markets. We have found that these work for the youth who tend to be more active online and on mobile. |
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Is SPE Networks Asia going to launch more channels in India like AXN Beyond with digitisation growing? |
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
